OpenAI buys TBPN
OpenAI has purchased TBPN, a daily three-hour live technology and business programme that has built a following among Silicon Valley founders, venture capitalists and senior technology executives since it launched streaming in 2025. The Wall Street Journal broke the news on 2 April.
The show, co-hosted by John Coogan and Jordi Hays and broadcast from Los Angeles, has featured guests including Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella and OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman. Despite only 58,000 YouTube subscribers, TBPN attracted sponsorships from Ramp, Plaid, Google's Gemini division and holds a partnership with the New York Stock Exchange. According to the WSJ, TBPN generated approximately $5 million in advertising revenue in 2025 and is on pace to exceed $30 million this year.
OpenAI did not disclose the purchase price. The show will be housed within the company's strategy organisation, which is led by Fidji Simo, OpenAI's chief executive of AGI deployment. Simo framed the acquisition around OpenAI's obligation to create space for conversation about the societal changes AI produces.
Altman, who has appeared on TBPN multiple times, wrote on X that he expects the show to maintain its critical edge: "I don't expect them to go any easier on us, am sure I'll do my part to help enable that with occasional stupid decisions."
Coogan and Hays stated that TBPN will maintain editorial independence and continue to choose its own guests, a commitment OpenAI has publicly endorsed. Co-host Hays described the move as a shift "from commentary to real impact in how this technology is distributed and understood globally."
The acquisition is OpenAI's most explicit step yet into media ownership and reflects a calculation that controlling a credible, insider-facing platform is worth more than conventional advertising or press relations at a moment when AI companies face intensifying public scrutiny.
